Demitri Maximoff
Demitri Maximoff is a vampire who first appeared in ''Darkstalkers: The Night Warriors''. His game play strikes many similiarities to Ryu and Ken from the Street Fighter ''series. Demitri was also a playable character in the Capcom cross over, SNK vs. Capcom: SVC Chaos'' and in Capcom's very own Capcom Fighting Evolution. Background Deep within the mountains of Romania lies a castle that appears only on a full moon. The castle, named after the owner of the land, was called Zeltzereich. This castle belonged to a Makai noble, Demitri Maximoff. Roughly 100 years ago, he had challenged Berial Aensland. He lost the battle and was exiled from Makai to the human world with his castle. Sunlight was something that was troublesome for people of Makai, especially for Demitri, who was wounded severely from his battle with Berial. If he were to be directly exposed, his body would be destroyed from the inside and he would disappear. To avoid the sunlight and humans, he used what he had left of his powers and created a field to cover his castle. He used this field to recover his strength and heal his wounds. For 50 years, he stayed within his casket. As he slowly regained his strength, he would step out only once a full moon put a shield around his body. By this time, there were already people that would wander into the castle. They would somehow hear rumors of treasure's within the castle. They would bring crosses, stakes, garlic, holy water and silver bullets thinking they were safe and recklessly attack Demitri. Demitri couldn't help but smile as such weapons had no effect on him. To Demitri, humans were a low class vulgar race, but he enjoyed their blood. He enjoyed the blood of innocent girls the most. To him, it was like drinking the best wine in Makai. Those who had their blood sucked by Demitri had their body and soul poisoned with evil. They would become loyal servants to Demitri. Currently, 40 people settle in Demitri's castle and care for him. When Demitri recovered 80% of his original power, he was able to temporarily create an aura around him that would protect him from sunlight. Demitri had conquered both night and day and had no weaknesses. There were no means for humans to defeat him. After 100 years of humiliation for his loss, he had gained alot. He acquired various new abilities and knowledge. The Prince of Darkness steadily readied himself to take over Makai once again. The presence of an alien life form on Earth was an unexpected event for Demitri. Demitri seized this opportunity to further gain strength and fought against Pyron and consumed the alien life form. He was confident that he was strong enough to challenge and defeat the ruler of Makai, Berial. When he returned to Makai, he found out that Berial had died and his daughter, Morrigan Aensland, had become heir to the Aensland family and the ruler of Makai. As Demitri prepared himself to challenge Morrigan, he and his castle were sucked into the Majigen by Jedah Dohma. Believing that defeating Jedah was an important step, he went off to face Jedah. Personality Demitri acts in an aristocratic manner. About real vampires An undead creature that rises from the grave during the night to drink the blood of the living in order to stay alive. Generally the word "undead" refers to a creature that should be dead but is still active within the realm of the living. The word "vampire" comes from the Slavic word "obyri" or "obiri", which evolved into the Bulgarian word "vampir". Although sources differ greatly, some say that the Greek word "nosophoros", which means "plague-carrier", that evolved into the Old Slavonic word "nosufur-atu" is a synonym for the word "vampire". In our culture, the words "vampire" and "nosferatu" are interchanged often. The vampire is truly a global creature, with myths related to the dead which rise to drink the blood of the living coming out of cultures all around the world. From Africa to Japan to Spain and the UK, the vampire has held humans enthralled for centuries. Nowhere, however, do we see more vampire folklore than in the stories of the Slavic people. Perhaps the reason for this is the historically high population of gypsies in that area. The migration of the gypsies has been traced back across the continent to northern India, where the religion had a cast of certain bloodthirsty deities, such as Kali, and creatures, such as a bhutu. It has been theorized that with this as a base of folklore, the gypsies picked up bits and pieces of other legends as they migrated toward the north-west and as a result, altered the folklore of the Slavic nations. According to legend, the victims of a vampire either dies or becomes a vampire. Vampires could also be made in a variety of ways: a child born under certain omens, a cat or other animal jumping over a dead body, someone who committed suicide, and practicing witchcraft are some activities thought to be the cause of vampirism. Even inanimate objects and animals were thought to be able to become vampires: pumpkins, watermelons and other fruit that was left out past a certain amount of time, latches that were left unlatched too long, dogs, horses, sheep and snakes are among the objects with Vampiric potential in older superstitions of the Slavic gypsy community. Vampires were thought to be able to take the form of a bat, or many other animals, as well as a mist. They were able to control creatures like rats and wolves, and the elements were at their command. Some kinds of vampires were thought to be endowed with the ability to fly. Most vampires of legend slept either in coffins, or returned to the earth to sleep in their grave. Among other superstitions, vampires were supposed to need to return to the earth from their homeland each night, could not cross running water, could not see their reflection in a mirror, could not enter a place uninvited, and could not tolerate the symbol of the Christian crucifix. In order to protect yourself from a vampire, the cross or crucifix was thought to be very powerful in the Christian countries. Little is known of how holy symbols were used as vampire protection before the Christian era, however, folk-cures were often employed. Garlic was the most popular vampire repellent, as well as hawthorn and the mountain ash or rowan. Another defense was scattering seeds. Vampires were supposed to become so involved in counting every single seed that they would either lose interest or be caught counting even as the sun came up. Surprisingly, silver was not as traditional a protective metal as supposed in popular fiction, iron was the material of choice. Iron shavings were placed beneath a child's cradle, a necklace with an iron nail was worn, and other iron objects were placed strategically around the place needing protection. Once a vampire was discovered, it could be destroyed by cremation, cutting off its head, exposing it to sunlight or by driving a stake through its heart. Other superstitions told that a vampire could be destroyed by touching it with a crucifix, drenching it in holy water and garlic, stealing his left sock, filling it with stones and throwing it in a river, or using a "dhampir", or a vampire's child. Dhampirs were allegedly the only people who were able to see invisible vampires and they often took advantage of this by hiring out their services as vampire hunters. Vampires in literature Demitri's date and place of birth are shortly after the death of Count Dracula in 1483 and in the land that Count Dracula once ruled, respectively. Vampires were popularized by the Irish author Bram Stoker with his story of Count Dracula, a Transylvanian vampire, in 1897. The story was probably based on Vlad Tepes, a medieval character of exceptional blood thirst. He supposedly impaled his enemies, hence his nickname "Vlad The Impaler", and cut off their heads. He ruled Walachia as Vlad III in the 15th century, which is now part of Romania. He signed his letters with "Vlad Dracula", which can be translated as "Vlad, Son of the Dragon" or "Son of the Devil". His father was called Dracul because he had a Dragon depicted on his coat of arms. Before Stoker, Vampire literature was rare, but existent. Perhaps the most popular pre-Dracula stories were "Carmilla" by J. Sheridan Le Fanu; "Varney The Vampire" by James Malcolm Rymer; and "The Vampyre: A Tale" by John Polidori. Vampires today, as they are often portrayed in modern day literature, are much different than the vampires of old. They do not necessarily have the same limitations the vampires from legends had. Garlic and crosses offer no protection against them, they are supposed to be able to walk during the day, and sometimes are not considered to be undead, but another species of humans. They usually still have extraordinary powers: their strength and speed surpasses that of humans, and their senses are heightened to a preternatural level. The need for blood, however, has not diminished, in spite of how we have seen in the last twenty years a trend toward a conscientious vampire who is tormented by his/her own humanity. Credit for many of the modern innovations with the vampire myth must go to Anne Rice, who is the author of the immensely popular "Vampire Chronicles", a five book series concerning a vampire named Lestat. The first book from the series, "Interview with the Vampire", was made into a movie in 1994, and joined the ranks of many other vampire movies made over the decades. Bela Lugosi will always be remembered as the first Count Dracula on the big screen, and he is primarily responsible for the popular wealthy aristocrat appearance, black cape, fangs, widows peak, and Transylvanian accent that is so characteristic of the vampire stereotype. Appearances In other games *''Capcom Fighting Evolution'' *''Cross Edge'' *''Namco x Capcom'' *''Project x Zone'' *''SNK vs. Capcom: Card Fighters Clash'' *''SNK vs. Capcom: Card Fighters Clash 2'' *''SNK vs. Capcom: Card Fighters DS'' *''SNK vs. Capcom: SVC Chaos'' Cameos *''Pocket Fighter'' (Appears on the Demitri's Moving Castle stage.) *''Tatsunoko Vs Capcom: Ultimate All-Stars'' (appears in Joe the Condor's ending along with Pyron) In other media Demitri appears in Darkstalkers the Animated Series, where he works for Pyron. He also appears in the Night Warriors: Darkstalkers' Revenge ''OVA. Trivia *Demitri's favorite blood type is AB. He also prefers blood from virgins. *The girls on Demitri's stage are Patricia, Elizabeth, Francoise and Angelica. *In the ''Darkstalkers series, Demitri is voiced by Nobuyuki Hiyama, who is mostly known as the voice of adult Link in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time and Joe Higashi from the Fatal Fury and The King of Fighters series. *In Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3, Vergil was given alternate colors based on Demitri. *For Monster Hunter Frontier, Capcom released costumes of Demitri and Morrigan for the game. Their costumes came in 4 different colors; Demonic Series featuring their regular colors, Shadow Series featuring reds, Chaos Series featuring light blue and Soul Series featuring white. *In the animated series, he is the nephew of Count Dracula. Sprite Official Artwork Videos Darkstalkers Resurrection Demitri Moves List|Demitri Moves List Darkstalkers - Demitri Character Strategy|Character Strategy Navigation External links *Demitri - Strategy Wiki *Demitri - Mizuumi Wiki *Demitri - Capcom Database Category:Characters Category:Males